The unbelievable true tale of the infamous ‘cocaine godmother’ brought to life by Sofia Vergara.

She stated in Spanish, with a practiced nonchalant expression, that her name is Betty as she looked up from her Bible.

On her nightstand, beneath a headscarf and alongside a .38 caliber gun, was a passport that indicated her name was Lucrecia Adarmez. However, this was just as fake as her other preferred alias, Arichel Vince-Lopez.

When Bob Palombo finally caught up with the “chameleon” after 11 years, the woman had gone by various aliases, including La Dona Gris, La Gorda, La Gordita, The Black Widow, and La Madrina.

During that moment of realization, she reverted back to being called Betty. This was due to her resemblance to Betty Boop, a character from the 1930s, who had been caught in a downward spiral of drug-induced parties and extreme paranoia.

The distinct chin and exaggerated dimples were still present, and like many others before him, Palombo was captivated. He gently kissed her on the cheek and introduced himself as the Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration who was determined to bring down The Cocaine Godmother. “Hello, Griselda. We finally meet.”

“She didn’t kiss me, I can only think what she would have liked to do,” Palombo, now retired, recalled to The Independent of her 1985 arrest.

She would not hesitate to end his life. Griselda Blanco had no qualms about killing both her lovers and enemies. She favored using her Pistoleros hitmen, who would approach on a motorbike and shoot at close range, a method she made famous. In a form of street justice, she was killed in 2012 outside of a butcher shop in Medellin.

After being forcibly removed from a townhouse in Irvine, Orange County on February 17, her birthday weekend, she briefly revealed a glimpse of vulnerability beneath her bravado.

“I found her to be quite resilient and distant, which I believe is a common trait among Colombians. She was nonchalant and didn’t show much emotion, but once we were in the car together, with me in the back seat and the other agent driving, things changed. As we approached the courthouse in Los Angeles, she suddenly appeared visibly shaken,” Palombo recalled.

“She appeared visibly disturbed, trembling as she tightly gripped my arm. Her shaking was palpable as she suddenly turned and vomited on my shoulder. Though it was mostly bile, she knew that things had taken a turn for the worse. It was now time for her to confront her accusers.”

Over the past 37 years, Blanco’s position in the history of Colombian drug lords has become more prominent, bringing her notoriety to the level of fellow Medellin Cartel members Pablo Escobar and Carlos Lehder.

Just like in life, Blanco’s persona has transformed into a chameleon in death. She is often depicted as a powerful and regal figure, both on television and in movies, which has only increased her popularity and success at the box office.

In the year of her death, Luces Velásquez portrayed Blanco in the Colombian telenovela, Escobar, el patrón del mal. The role was later taken by Catherine Zeta-Jones in the 2017 Lifetime film, The Cocaine Godmother. Sofia Vergara is now starring in the Netflix series, Griselda, which is now available for streaming. Jennifer Lopez has been cast as the lead in the Hollywood biopic, The Godmother, which is currently in the development stage.

Blanco has been portrayed by Lifetime as a “trailblazer”, labeled by Netflix as a “clever and driven Colombian entrepreneur”, and hailed by Lopez as an “anti-hero”. However, her three deceased husbands and the families of the numerous victims she may have had a hand in killing may have a different perspective.

In 2019, Lopez expressed her excitement for the role by saying that the character embodies everything we desire in storytelling and dynamic characters – she is infamous, driven, scheming, and unsettling.

The unvarnished truth about Blanco’s life and wrongdoings has been revealed. Her notoriety was established well before the 2006 documentary Cocaine Cowboys and its 2008 follow-up Hustlin’ with the Godmother, which introduced her to English-speaking viewers. In fact, Blanco’s story was already a legendary tale within the US’s law enforcement history.

In 1993, the DEA published an internal magazine titled Drug Enforcement to mark the 20th anniversary of the agency’s creation, by former president Richard Nixon, to wage the neverending “war on drugs”.

The record documents important events in the organization’s past, including its lineage dating back to the time of prohibition, major routes used for drug trafficking, and the killing of special agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena (portrayed by Michael Pena in the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico).

The section called “Rogues” highlights the five most notorious individuals within the first 20 years of the DEA’s existence. Blanco ranked at the top of the list. She was seen as a more significant threat than even Carlos Lehder, the founder of the Medellin Cartel. It was not until December of that year that Escobar would meet his demise.

The DEA considered Blanco’s arrest to be more significant than other major cases involving American drug activity, such as taking down Leroy “Nicky” Barnes, the leader of a major drug operation in New York; Wayne “Akbar” Pray, the head of a trafficking group in New Jersey that had connections nationwide; and chemist George Marquardt, who created a drug that caused 126 overdose deaths and was up to 400 times stronger than pure heroin, known as fentanyl at the time.

What was the reason for Blanco’s notoriety and why was her capture highly regarded by the men of her era? According to the DEA in 1993, “Griselda had a love for murder. The streets of Miami were filled with bodies due to her ongoing conflicts. She surrounded herself with a gang known as the Pistoleros. To join the gang, one had to commit a murder and present a body part as evidence. It is rumored that a rival was killed by a member of the Pistoleros who rode up to him on a motorcycle and shot him at close range.”

The Medellin cartel’s signature and the unmistakable symbol of her murder.

Not only did she eliminate her enemies and unfaithful partners, but she also resorted to murder in order to avoid paying off debts. The violent event that occurred in a Miami shopping center in July 1979 became known as the Dadeland Massacre.

During the 1970s, Palombo had been closely monitoring Blanco for several years before bodies started accumulating in Miami. Despite efforts to apprehend her in Queens, New York during Operation Banshee in 1974, Blanco was able to evade capture. This operation was significant as it was one of the DEA’s earliest large-scale operations since its establishment in 1973.

The New York Times reported in 1976 that a group of twelve Colombians were found guilty of trafficking over 20 pounds of cocaine, valued at $2.5 million (or $15 million adjusted for inflation), per week from 1972 to 1974. The drugs were transported in various forms such as cargo containers, speedboats, suitcases, clothing, hollow wooden coat-hangers, and even a dog cage with a live dog inside.

“I never saw her in person,” Palombo stated. “Her voice was not recorded during the wiretap investigation, or in any other significant circumstance.”

Blanco escaped to Colombia, where the DEA attempted to monitor her actions and convince her to reveal information about the Colombian drug organizations. However, this proved to be an unrealistic goal, as Palombo stated, “But that was just wishful thinking and an unattainable dream, as it never came to fruition.”

She was followed in Colombia until at least 1977, but eventually vanished into impoverished areas and remained a mystery. There were speculations that she was shot in Miami in 1977 and 1980, but Palombo did not have contact with her again until nearly 10 years after she was initially charged during Operation Banshee.

In the meantime, most of the information about Blanco and her past was obtained indirectly from DEA informant Maria Gutierrez, who was initially Blanco’s travel agent but later became a close friend, trusted confidant, and unrequited love.

On February 15, 1943, while the world was at war with Nazi Germany, Griselda Blanco Restrepo was born in Cartagena on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Abandoned by her father, Blanco was taken to Medellin at a young age and grew up in a shanty slum where her mother, said to be an alcoholic prostitute, beat her savagely.

Forced onto the streets, she met her first husband and mentor Carlos Trujillo, a heavy drinker and small-time document forger. The pair made their way to New York in the mid to late 1960s. Now in her 20s, Blanco went from pickpocketing, forging fake ID documents to “small amounts of marijuana” (as far as the DEA knew).

Palombo noticed the girl immediately. He mentioned that her mother was accused of being a prostitute and the girl was exposed to a life of crime, including theft, using fake passports, and pick-pocketing. She had never experienced a wholesome life and it’s almost heartbreaking to think that someone like her never had a fair opportunity.

During the 1960s in New York, basuco, also known as “bazooka”, was not a highly sought-after form of cocaine. However, as the drug became more commonly made into crystals and demand rose in the late 1960s and 1970s, a businesswoman who was known for her innovative ways shifted her focus from marijuana to purchasing an undergarment business. She then proceeded to design hidden compartments in bras and girdles and enlisted couriers to smuggle cocaine by carrying it on their bodies.

She utilized several sources to obtain her supplies and, similar to her contemporary Carlos Lehder, advocated for combining resources and dividing risks with other drug dealers. This led to the formation of the Medellin Cartel and paved the way for its notorious leader, Pablo Escobar.

“My mother was involved in the drug trade since the 1960s,” says her youngest and only living son, Michael Corleone Blanco. “She was a pioneer. I never want to experience that again, it was insane,” he added.

Corleone Blanco, who shares his name with the infamous character from The Godfather, shed light on his mother’s past during a 2019 episode of the podcast Berner’s Round Table.

She began her journey by transporting 100 mules and laborers to the Andes mountains and introducing the renowned Colombian Gold variety of marijuana to Medellin and, consequently, the rest of the world.

“She was the only area where there were individuals involved in murder, Afro-Colombians, prostitutes, illegal alcohol, and marijuana. All of this was under the control of a woman named Griselda Blanco,” he stated.

Following Operation Banshee, Blanco returned to Colombia from New York and began distributing crystallized cocaine. Soon after, she resumed her activities in the US, flooding Miami with a constant supply of cocaine.

In the early 1980s, Corleone Blanco lived in California’s Morgan Hill area, posing as a normal kid and watching He-Man instead of Al Pacino. Meanwhile, his three older brothers, Uber, Dixon, and Osvaldo, were managing the family business in Miami, San Francisco, and Beverly Hills.

“She held a powerful position within the Medellin cartel, almost like a queen. She didn’t have to follow Pablo’s orders or submit to anyone, as she was the one who established their initial routes,” he reminisced.

The chameleon had been absent and unnoticed for most of ten years. She had the ability to fluctuate in weight by 30 pounds, alter the color of her hair, appear wealthy or worn-out, captivate as a regal Colombian woman, or blend in as a typical American mother from the suburbs.

However, in 1983, the DEA and those against her started to approach her through a mix of fortunate events, insiders within her group, and specifically, two younger females.

Palombo stated that the difference was in her inclination towards aggression. She was not properly handling her responsibilities as she had in the past.

Suddenly, the Miami DEA received a call from a concerned mother regarding her stunning, youthful, and Caucasian daughter who was romantically involved with a Hispanic drug trafficker known as Uber Blanco, who appeared to have an infinite amount of money.

It was the DEA’s first line on Blanco since the 1970s and first hint that Blanco’s sons, who were too young during Operation Banshee a decade earlier, had grown into the business. Six months later they got another break with the arrest of Geraldo Gomez, a Colombian determined to remain in the United States for his American-born son.

Palombo instinctively brought up Blanco to Gomez, who was at risk of receiving a 10-year prison sentence and being sent back to his home country. Gomez not only had a previous acquaintance with La Madrina, but he also had a positive relationship with her family from his time working as a mechanic in Colombia, where he maintained their cars and enhanced Osvaldo Blanco’s motorcycles. To add to the good fortune, Gomez’s cousin was currently romantically involved with Dixon Blanco in San Francisco.

Palombo maintained his advantage. Gomez was eventually entered into a program for protected witnesses and has not been in contact since. Others, such as Max Mermelstein, a Jewish American smuggler who was instrumental in establishing the cocaine route from Medellín to Miami, would also join in. He later escaped the $3 million bounty placed on his head by the cartel and went into hiding under witness protection.

“She experienced visions of past individuals and struggled to sleep at night. According to Max, she would frequently hire young women to sleep with her, and engage in sexual activities with some of them at wild orgy parties in Miami,” Palombo explained.

Adversaries were rapidly approaching as well. According to Palombo, Blanco was targeted for retribution due to her involvement in the murder of a relative of Jorge Ochoa, another founding member of the Medellin Cartel.

After escaping from Miami, Blanco effortlessly blended into the surroundings of California, causing Palombo to overlook him when they first crossed paths in the lobby of a Newport Beach hotel.

“When I initially saw her, she wore the attire of a meticulous American woman in her middle years. She donned a blonde wig and had immaculately manicured hands. Her appearance and overall grooming were impeccable. Her outfit exuded a sharpness,” he remembered.

A few months later, she was completely transformed, appearing disheveled with messy hair and poorly applied makeup, giving off a tired and worn out appearance.

Palombo described her as a versatile chameleon, constantly adapting to her surroundings. But as time passed, her paranoia grew due to the need to flee Miami in order to escape from hired killers.

Despite being cornered, Blanco narrowly avoided being prosecuted.

During Operation Banshee, Stephen Schlessinger began his career as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. However, by the time of Blanco’s trial, he had relocated to Southern Florida.

The case against them did not involve any physical evidence of drugs, but relied solely on recorded conversations between Blanco, her three sons, and informant Gomez. This led to the DEA’s first in-person encounter with Blanco in the United States.

The trial moved forward without any cocaine or drug money involved. It was essentially a drug conspiracy based solely on conversations. Schlessinger stated, “It was all just talk.”

The only evidence they had were recorded discussions that would need to be explained and deciphered by the investigators and drug experts, essentially translating Spanish and coded language for the jury.

The case was not excessively strong. Schlessinger thought about using the indictment from Operation Banshee, but ultimately decided against it due to its age and lack of physical evidence. The previous events, including the murders, were not addressed in her initial trial and would be addressed at a later time.

Even now, Schlessinger remains uncertain about why she did not walk.

“We woke up and spent two days conducting a trial, during which I mainly just ‘walked the dog’. I was simply wasting time and avoiding the main topic. We were getting ready to play these recordings and explain them as best as we could,” he remembered.

On the third day of the trial, the lawyer suddenly stood up and announced that they were going to plead to the indictment, without informing me beforehand. I was completely unaware of their reasoning and intentions.

Judge Eugene Spellman, since deceased, excoriated Blanco during sentencing, calling her the worst thing since Ma Baker, Schlessinger said. Spellman threw the book at her with the statutory maximum, which Palombo has recalled being 35 years.

The courtroom was filled with confusion as the judge expressed strong emotion. Blanco, wearing black and holding onto Rosary beads and a bible, showed no visible response. The defense side of the room turned pale.

Schlessinger and Palombo were pleased with their success and decided to celebrate with a lunch. They had successfully captured their chameleon and placed it in a jar.

While eating their hamburgers, Schlessinger’s pager suddenly went off, alerting them that the judge required their immediate presence.

“It was quite unsettling as I approached his chambers and found them completely empty. Upon entering, I discovered him alone and he admitted, ‘Steve, I made a mistake. I had a conversation… I promised 10 or 12 years, but I simply forgot about it’,” he recounted.

It seems that according to Schlessinger, the older judge had overlooked a secret agreement he made to not give Blanco a longer sentence than her three sons – Uber, Dixon, and Osvaldo – who were sentenced right before her trial began.

According to Schlessinger, he was requested to agree to alter the spoken statement in the official written ruling, and the judge warned that it could have serious consequences for Blanco’s defense lawyers if they refused. In response to an email from The Independent, defense attorney Roy Black stated that he had no additional comments to contribute to the official record.

In the end, Schlessinger stated that they were presented with a decision – either accept the verdict or proceed with a new trial.

According to him, there was no doubt that there was no option but to proceed. The evidence against her was weak, especially compared to the conversations with her sons which were more coherent and incriminating. However, the evidence against her was a mess, like a jumbled word salad.

“We were appalled by the entire situation. When viewed in its entirety, the events served as a representation of the justice system in South Florida during the 1980s.”

During her imprisonment, prosecutors from the state worked on several murder charges against her, leading to the belief that she would spend the rest of her life in prison or possibly face execution. However, she made another agreement when it was discovered that secretaries from the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office were involved in a phone-sex scandal with Jorge “Rivi” Ayala, Blanco’s preferred hitman.

In 1998, she pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder. By 2004, she had been released, but was later deported to Medellin. Despite expectations, she lived for another eight years until her assassination in 2012.

The prevailing belief is that it took her adversaries a total of eight years to finally apprehend her. This is a plausible theory according to Schlessinger, although the only unexpected aspect is that it didn’t occur sooner. After serving their time and returning to Colombia, three out of four of her sons had tragically lost their lives.

Palombo, using his detective skills, has a different perspective. He finds it strange that she didn’t face the same fate as her sons when she returned to her luxurious home in Medellin, where she openly lived her life. If someone wanted to seek revenge for a loved one’s death, it wouldn’t have taken eight years to locate her.

“She was not intentionally concealing herself. On the contrary, she was murdered at the marketplace, specifically at the butcher shop. From what I’ve gathered, she was highly regarded in the community and known for her kind treatment of the less fortunate. This could be why many people did not pay much attention to her,” he stated.

One possible explanation, he hypothesizes: “Nothing is more detrimental to the criminal world than someone becoming an informant.”

Will The Cocaine Godmother finally agree to become a state’s witness after years of evading the DEA, blending in, and rejecting offers to betray the cartels? According to Palombo, pay attention to the timing.

On September 3, 2012, Blanco passed away at 69 years old. Her youngest son, Michael Corleone Blanco (also known as Michael Corleone Sepulveda from his father Dario Speulveda), survived her.

According to The Miami New Times, he had been placed under house arrest after being arrested on 12 May, 2011 for two charges of cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. This occurred at the same time as his mother’s passing.

Blanco Speulveda did not reply to numerous interview requests for this article.

After his mother passed away, Blanco has mentioned in interviews that he departed from the family enterprise. He is a prominent figure on the VH1 show Cartel Crew, which has been airing since 2019. His marriage was showcased in an episode in 2021 and he now has his own children to look after.

Prior to the show’s premiere, Blanco Speulveda was a guest on hip hop artist Bern’s podcast where he discussed his decision to leave his old lifestyle behind and not let fear control him. He also discussed his various business ventures, including Pure Blanco, a streetwear company that is marketed as a “Billionaire Cartel Lifestyle Brand” in the areas of fashion, film, music, licensing, and cannabis. One of their collections, La Madrina Wake N Vape, is inspired by the 80s.

Blanco stated that their mother had instilled in them the ability to adapt like a chameleon.

Source: independent.co.uk